Sound annunciator



Jan. 6, 1953 w. L. HANSEN 2,624,226

SOUND ANNUNCIATOR Filed Jan. 30, 1950 2 Sl-IEETS-SHEBT 1 FIG! INVENTOR WILLIAM L. HANSEN ATTORNEYS Jan. 6, 1953 w. L. HANSEN 2,624,226

SOUND ANNUNCIATOR Filed Jan. 30, 1950 I 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 FIG. 9

2 I4 37 11 36 I I Q 0 I! FIG. 10 37$ SI 6 2| INVENTOR W&LLIAM L. HANSEN QTTORNEYS Patented Jan. 6, 1953 UNIT ED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 SOUND ANNUNCIATOR 'Wiliiam L. "Hansen, Princton 'ln'd assignor to Hansen Manufacturing Company, .Inc., Princetn,-Ind., a'corporation of Indiana ApplicaticnJanuary 30, 1950,'Scrial No. 141,280

7 Claims. 1

Thepresentinvention-relates to musical sound emitters or annunciators.

There are many uses for musical'sound producing devices, for example as chimes in=a clock, door annunciator, telephoneringers,signaling-devices, call to dinner-devices and animal calling devices within or beyond theaudible frequency range. However, in practically every instance the annunciatiors are expensive to manufacture, become de-tuned easily-and usually have a weak response due mainly to the factthat-an amplifying resonance is lacking.

' The primary object ofthe invention is to provide "an annunciator or sound emitting-device thatwill give off clean-bell-like tones when struck with an-impact of reasonable force and in which the sound effect is enhanced-through the use of a resonating body of air.

Another object is to providean-annunciator or chime which produces a'musical note of considerable carrying power and in which the character of the sound and tone pitch can be readily varied.

Another object is to provide an' annunciator of the reed type with an acoustic chamber "and having provision for "readily changing the-tone quality of the-*reedwhile maintaining theacoustic amplifyingproperties of the chamber.

Still another object is to provide an annunciator of the reed' type in which the-tone-orrpitch of the annunciator can be pre-set'an'd duplicated 'by the manufacturenalso can bechanged by the user to give special effects.

A furtherobject is-to provide a self -amplif-ying annunciator which is equally adapted to many uses, especially as the chime of -a clock, and can be inexpensively madean'd has rugged con- *struction and strict reproducibility of tone.

Another object is to provideanimprovedannunciator having an 'acoustic amplifier formed of a resonating body of -air and'in which the-resonator chamber is physically separate from the sound producing element and related only acoustically.

Another object is to provide an improved annunicator of the acoustically amplifying type and inwhich the acoustic amplifier takes-the form of a fiat chamberwithsidesthat constitute large diaphragms and in which the chamber-lends itself to chimeclock use-and in other places where space is severely limited.

These objects'are-attained in brief byproviding an acoustic'chamber of a general rectangular form having flat' opposed sides of considerable width'and length," one'of these=sides constituting a-rigid support for the reed element.

The invention will be better understood when reference is made to the following description and ciator, but showing the use of a plurality of reeds;

Figures 4 and 5 depict sections taken along lines 44 and 5-5 in Figure 2;

Figure-6 is a view showing the rear or underside .of the annunciator;

Figure 7 typifies one way inwhich the improved annunciator can-be'uscd in practice, specifically 'ShOWn-Esa chime device for clocks;

Figure 8 is a fragmentary view-of the tuned element of the annunciator;

Figure 9 shows in elevation, with parts broken away, an annunciator improved in accordance with the present invention and usedas a signaling device;

Figure 10 is a fragmentary view, partly in section,-showing a detail of the device illustrated in Figure 9. Thisview-is taken at the line HI-l0 in Figure 9; and

Figure 11 shows --an electromagnetic buzzer system for producing a sustained note on the improved annunciator.

Referring more-particularly .toFigs. 1 tot, 'the sound emitting or originating-device-is preferablyconstituted of a rectangular rod i of relati-vely small section-but of considerable length and made-preferably of hardened orspring steel. The rod I is firmly held in a metal bridge or clamp "formed: of a pair :o'f fairly narrow metal plates "2 which can be:bolted together'as indicated at"-3. 'It isessential that there should be n'o movement whatsoever. between the red. I .and the clamped plates '2, for otherwise the reed woul'd not emit a 1 pure reproducible tone. The lowerplate member-2 is supported on a U-shaped metal plate indicated at 4 having outwardlyextending legs 5-so=as to leave an inwardly extending-recessfi between the legs. The purpose of this recess will be'explained hereinafter.

'The plate-'4 is firmlyVsuppor-ted'as by rivets or screws 1 at the end ofeach leg and also at the positions of the bolts 3 to the top fiat surface of a resonating chamber -8. For convenience, the bolts-3 mayextend throughthe chamber. This top'fflat surface of the chamber constitutes adiaphragm -which'is set in vibration by the movements of the reed l which are initiated in the "manner to be described, so that it is important that-the plate 4' be :spaced a distance above the side 8 of the chamber and this may be conveniently accomplished by the use of spacing washers 9 (Fig. 7). The reason for leaving a free open space between the legs will now be apparent since by spacing these legs above the surface 8 and leaving as much of this surface as free as possible from any rigid supports or rigid contacts with other members, the vibratory property of the surface 8 is not reduced.

The resonator, of which the surface 8 constitutes the upper side, takes the form of a relatively long and relatively wide body, preferably made of thin, deep-drawn metal such as brass, and formed in two parts for convenience in manufacture. As shown in Figs. 2 to 5, the two parts of the chamber or body are shaped exactly alike but in assembly together one half of the casing is reversed end for end with respect to the other half. This allows one die to make both halves of the casing.

As shown more particularly in Figs. 2, 4 and 5, each casing half comprises a rectangular box member with gradual curves ID at all of the corners and edges in order to prevent any fracture or cracking of the metal during the drawing process. The casing is provided at its open edge with a narrow outwardly extending flange H, this flange being made wider as at I2 for a distance of approximately one-half the length of the casing at each side and at one end thereof. The flange'portion I2 is provided with an ear [4 at the end of the casing half and a loop section indicated at l5 extends over the entire length of the wide flange. The space between the legs of the loop serves to accommodate the thickness of the narrow flange II when the casing half is turned end for end as shown in Fig. 3.

In assembling the casing halves, assuming that they have been positioned one on the other at the flanges but in reverse directions, the narrow flange l! of one is slid into the looped or beaded edge l5 of the other as far as it will go, in which case the casing halves will come strictly into register with one another. The loop portion can be crimped or clamped around the embraced flange I I so that a substantially airtight joint is provided, without the use of solder or other fusible metal, about the entire length of joint between the casing halves. The joint between the casings can be soldered if desired.

It will be understood that the ear portions I I will be positioned at opposite ends of the completed casing structure. provided in these flanges in order to receive a screw I? (Fig. 7) which engages a spacer l8 for supporting the resonator chamber above a base l9. Inasmuch as the support for the casing is at firmly in any one position.

Openings [6 may be 7 the extreme ends thereof and located remotev from the actual body of the casing, there is no interference with any vibrations that may be set up either within the casing or in the material of the casing. The latter is relatively thin and since the top and bottom sides 8 are free from any rigid supports except at the isolated points 3 and l, the top and bottom walls of the casing can vibrate freely in response to periodic movements set up in the reed.

In order to permit the vibrating column of air within the chamber to escape under controlled conditions, two or more openings 20 may be provided in the wall of the chamber opposite from the wall which supports the reed, these openings being preferably in line with the fixed end of the reed I and specifically coincident with the bolts 3. It is apparent that by reason of this particular position of the openings, the latter may be conveniently used for giving access to the heads of the screws within the chamber that form the bolts 3.

In order to tune the reed 1, giving it any desired pitch and quality of tone, a tuning wire loop 2| (Fig. 8) may be employed, this loop snugly but slidably fitting the reed so as to be able to be moved along the reed but to stay In general, as the loop 2| is moved toward the fixed support 2 (Fig. 1), the pitch of the reed will become higher.

In operation it is simply necessary to pluck the reed downwardly but preferably upwardly, and the vibrations set up in the air immediately surrounding the reed and those vibrations which are communicated to the fixed support plates 2 are transmitted to the top side 8 of the resonating chamber and the latter acts as a diaphragm. This rhythmic movement of the wall 8 communicates itself to the contained body of air within the chamber and sets up a vibrating action within this air body or column. This, in turn, will also cause the lower wall of the chamber to vibrate, the net result being that for each vibratory movement produced at the reed sympathetic or corresponding impulses of an enhanced character are set up within the chamber and in the diaphragm walls so that the original sound of the reed is greatly amplified by acoustic and diaphragm action. The vibratory column of air within the chamber escapes through the openings 20 and the latter serve as a directive force in propagating the amplified sound of the reed in a direction normal to the plane of the bottom Wall.

It is apparent that the reed may be tuned either within the audible range or outside of this range, as for example, when it is desired to have the sound reach the ears of animals and not human beings. Thus the improved annunciator constitutes an eflicient signaling or calling device for any hearing range or frequency and can even be employed for transmission of signals outside of the audio frequency range but in which the signals can be picked up by suitable and well-known devices.

Instead of employing a single reed, a number of differently tuned reeds may be used as indicated in Fig. 3, in which the wire loops are positioned differently along the reeds and the tones can be arranged in harmony to emit a pleasing musical note. The reeds can either be plucked or struck in succession or together as explained hereinafter and it has been found that the resonating chamber between the walls 8 appears to amplify each of the tones individually so that the sound emitted by the annunciator represents a true composite of all the individual sounds initiated by the respective reeds.

Various ways of plucking or striking the reed or reeds will occur to those skilled in the art and in Fig. 7 there is shown a typical form of chime actuator used in connection with clocks. Above the upper plate 2 of the bridge element and secured by the bolts 3 there is a bifurcated member 22 carrying a pintle 23 at the ends of the two legs. A shaft passes through these pintles and a toothed wheel 24 is rigidly mounted on the shaft so that the wheel is free to rotate between the furcations of the member '22. The teeth of the wheel extend to such a distance that when it is rotated in a counter-clockwise direction the teeth will successively pluck the end adzgzke 'mosphere.

For moving the wheel 24 a-ba'r 25 'isemploye'd,

this bar being pivoted on the shaft 23. A-reverse C-shapedfinger 2B is pivoted at 21 to the bar and a cable 28 is hooked into one-of "the openings 29 in the bar. The cable 'n is connected to the clockcoil mechanis'm in-such a way that at the hour or'half-hour predeterminedpulls are exercised on the cable. In this-case the bar is swung upwardly about-the -sh'aft 23,

'-'causing the upper -leg of the"fin'ger" 2'6 to press against 'oneof the teeth of the wheel 24 and the wheel is turned tooth by too'thf past the endof the reed'l to cause a distinct-chimey-the "number of which are determined byth'enumber of pulls exercised on thecable 28. Aspring retaining finger 30 may beemployed-to fit into the space between theteethof 'thewheel 24 so as to prevent any overrun of the wheel.

It will be understood that the use of my improved annunciator, including the resonating chamber, is'not limited to chimes of a clock-but can be used in any and all places where'the emission of sound of predetermined character and tone is desired.

In "Figs. 9 and 10 I have shown the manner in which the improved "annunciator can be-used, for example by a porter or butler announcing a dinner call. The annunciator is bolted by "screws 11 and 'spacers'l'8 to a baseboard 33. Bearing flanges 34-extend upwardly from the "baseboard and a shaft35 spans the twobe'arings.

This shaft has a sleeve36 thereoncontaining three radially extending projections '31 spaced along the sleeve and also in the circumferential direction such that when the shaft is rotated one of the reeds l is given a downward strike or pluck and then the next reed, and finally, the last of the three reeds. The latter may be all tuned to vibrate at different frequencies, preferably in harmony.

The shaft 35 can be rotated by means of a gear 38 which is driven from a pinion 39 mounted on a shaft 40 and journaled in one of the flanges 34. A handle and lever mechanism 4! can be conveniently located for rotating the shaft. A turn on this lever will cause the most pleasing note or sound to be produced by the improved annunciator and the resonating chamber will acoustically amplify the vibrations of the various reeds.

Still another of the many applications of the improved annunciator is shown in Fig. 11. In this case an electromagnet 42 is employed having a core 43. Directly above this core there is positioned a spring strip 44 made of magnetic metal and secured at one end between a series of plates 45. Directly above the strip 44 there is a second strip 46 of spring non-magnetic metal which is also secured at one end between the plates 45. The opposite end of the strip 46 is provided with a contact element 41 which normally bears against the upper surface of the strip 44. Wires 48 are taken respectively from the fixed ends of the strips 44, 48 through a switch 49 and a battery 50 to the coil of the electromagnet 42.

The core 43 of the electromagnet extends beyond the lower surface of the coil and there is a spring strip 5| of magnetic metal located in normally spaced relation with respect to the core. This strip is firmly fixed at one end 52 and at the other end there is a tension spring 53. The ends of the strip 5! is positioned directly below the electromagnet 1s endof the reed l which may be attached 'to a resonator as was-explained in connection-with FigsJ-l'tob. Thusfias'theswitch 49'is closed-the core 43 wilrbend the strip 44 dowhward and cause the strip-5|" to move upwardly against-the spring 53 "to give' the feed I a sharp pluck or impact. The end of the strip 5| will momentarily pass'beyond' the end of the reed I after the impact, and inasmuchas the circuit through the brokenatthe contact "when the-' strip 44 'isb'e'nt downward, the spring 53 will cause the strip 5| to return to its original-position. Inso doing, the'reed will be given'a se'cond pluck or impact. Thusa's the switch-His closed,

a-double-acting strike is applied to the lead I and this strike occurs periodically and con- 'tlnuously because whenthe strip 44 is released by the core 43 and moves to it's original position, contactis again made with theelement- 41. A musical buzzer is therefore obtained in this effective manner and the resonating qualities of the chamber will acoustically amplify each and every notegiven off by the reed even though these notes follow in considerable succession as a resultof the make and-break contact at the-elemenu-1.

Fromthe foregoing it is evident that I have disclosed an improved annunciator employing a ree'dme'chanismwhich'can give oif a single note or plural'notesin any harmony-arrangement and in any speed ofsuccession, and in which all of the -notes,'regardless'of rate of production, are

acoustically amplified by a pair of efiicient diaphragms'forming the walls of anacoustic resona'ting' chamber. The number of parts employed 'in theannunciator are relatively small and inasmuch as the chamber can be made almost entirely by the use of a single die which draws and presses out the chamber halves, a great reproducibility of the device can be obtained by simple metal fabricating methods.

It will be understood that various modifications and arrangements in structure could be made without departing from the spirit of my invention and, accordingly, I desire to comprehend such modifications and substitutions of equivalents as may be considered to come within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. An annunciator comprising a hollow member completely closed except for openings of restricted size, a support exteriorly mounted on the face of one side of said member and a tuned element secured at one end to said support and having its opposite end free to vibrate.

2. An annunciator comprising a hollow member completely closed except for openings of restricted size, a support exteriorly mounted on the face of one side of said member, said member and a tuned element secured at one side to said support and having its opposite end free to vibrate, said support being positioned on the side of the member remote from said openings.

3. A sound producing device comprising a metal casing having a pair of fiat walls in opposed relation, said casin being closed except for an opening or openings of restricted size in one of said walls, a tuned rod secured at one end to the other wall of the device and having its opposite end free to vibrate, the point of attachment of the rod to said wall being directly opposite the opening or openings in the other wall.

4. A sound producing device comprising a metal casing having a pair of flat walls in spacedopposed relation, a bridge member secured to the first of said walls, securing members extending through said first wall and said bridge member for securing the bridge member to the first wall and av tuned rod secured at one end to said member, the other end of the rod being free and excasing having a pair of walls in spaced opposed relation and completely closed except for a sound emitting opening or openings, a tuned rod secured at one end to one of the walls remote from said openings, said casing being formed in halves, each having a narrow external flange about approximately one-half of the periphery of the. half casing, and a Wider external flange about the other half of the periphery, said wider flangebeing formed as a loop with a space between the portions thereof to receive the narrow flange of the other half of the casing when assembled in reversed end for end positions, said flanges being adapted to be secured together to form an airtight shield between the casing halves.

6. A sound producing device comprising a metal casing having a pair of walls in spaced opposed relation and completely closed except for a sound emitting opening or openings, a tuned rod secured at one end to one of the walls remote from said openings, said casing being formed in halves which are a duplicate of one another, each half being provided over portion of its periphery with flanges of different shape and size such that when the casing halves are fitted together in reversed end to end relation a portion of the flange of one casing half grips the adjacent portion of the flange of the other casing half so that the two casing halves are gripped together by the said flanged portions to form a hermetic seal to prevent leakage of the air column within the casing and said air column is adapted to reverberate and amplify the sound vibrations set up by the tuned rod.

7. An annunciator comprising a hollow member completely closed except for openings of restricted size,- a support on said member, a tuned element secured at one end to said support and having its opposite end free to vibrate, and means including an electromagnet and reciprocable armature for electrically plucking the tuned element in at least one direction to efiect vertical movement of said free end.

WILLIAM L. HANSEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 149,585 Hill Apr. 14, 1874 722,561 Bunch Mar. 10, 1903 1,333,565 Newlin Mar. 9, 1920 2,101,385 Ekman Dec. 7, 1937 2,194,507 Lord et al Mar. 26, 1940 2,227,227 Mason Dec. 31, 1940 2,254,840 Demuth Sept. 2, 1941 2,333,875 McMuIlen Nov. 9, 1943 

